Government

Blue River Estates has quiet Planning Board hearing

(Credit: Jeffrey Sendlewski, courtesy rendering)
(Credit: Jeffrey Sendlewski, courtesy rendering)

No one spoke in opposition to a proposed 48-unit apartment building on West Main Street at a Riverhead Town Planning Board hearing Thursday.

Then again, hardly anyone spoke in favor of it either.

Blue River Estates is proposed to be built on the site of the current Long Island Science Center building on 11 West Main Street, and the Science Center would then move into a building at the former West Marine site at 101 East Main Street. 

Larry Oxman, a member of the Science Center board, said in an interview that they are in contract to buy the former West Marine building once work begins on Blue River Estates.  The Science Center building is proposed to be demolished to make room for Blue River Estates.

Martin Sendlewski, the architect for Blue River Estates, told the Planning Board on Thursday that ingress to the proposed five-story apartment building would be from West Main Street only, and would be a right-turn only from that street.

Leaving the building, on the other hand, would be right-turn only onto Peconic Avenue.

That’s assuming Peconic Avenue doesn’t eventually become a north-only road, as was proposed in a recent traffic study done for the town. The traffic study does propose an emergency lane for fire trucks and ambulances on the western portion of Peconic Avenue.

It’s not clear how egress from Blue River Estates will be handled should that occur.

Mr. Sendlewski also pointed out that the construction of Blue River Estates will include drainage that prevents rainwater from going into the Peconic River.

“Right now, 100 percent of the runoff goes into the river,” he said.

The 48 units in Blue River Estates will be market-rent apartments, each with its own parking space on the ground floor of the building, Mr. Sendlewski said.

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